Ron Tindall, who has died aged 76, was a successful centreforward for Chelsea
in the late Fifties and early Sixties and also enjoyed a career as an
all-round cricketer with Surrey.

Although better known as a footballer, Tindall was unfortunate in the sense that his time at Chelsea coincided with the early flowering of Jimmy Greaves, who inevitably stole much of his thunder.

For Chelsea, however, the coincidence was nothing but fruitful, particularly in 1960-61, when Greaves scored 43 goals and Tindall 16 — their combined total of 59 remains a club record for a strike partnership. In all, Tindall scored 69 goals in 174 appearances for Chelsea.

Ronald Albert Ernest Tindall was born in Streatham, south London on September 23 1935, and played youth football with Camberley before joining Chelsea as a professional in 1953 after being spotted by the Blues’ then manager Ted Drake.

Tindall was brought through the club’s youth system and scored on his league debut, a 2-0 home win against West Bromwich Albion in November 1955. He played the next five games as centreforward alongside Roy Bentley, scoring again in a match against Newcastle. He ended his first season with eight goals from 18 appearances .

Although he proved versatile enough to turn out at fullback, and even as an emergency goalkeeper, Tindall gradually became a regular choice at centreforward. In the opening match of the 1957-58 season he played for the first time alongside Greaves, who finished the campaign with 22 goals to Tindall’s 16.

In 1961 Greaves moved to AC Milan, and that October Chelsea’s new manager, Tommy Docherty, sold Tindall to West Ham. (Chelsea were relegated from the First Division at the end of that season.)

Within a year Tindall was on the move again, this time to Reading, where he scored 12 goals in 36 games before being transferred in September 1964 to Portsmouth. The purpose of signing him at Fratton Park was to replace Portsmouth’s prolific goalscorer Ron Saunders, who had gone to Watford. But at this point Tindall’s touch appeared to desert him, as he failed to score in his first 15 games. It was decided to move him to fullback, and he finished his career as a defender as well as club captain. He played 162 League games for Portsmouth, scoring on seven occasions. In March 1970 he was appointed the club’s manager, and in spring 1973 general manager.

Tindall left Portsmouth in 1975, and two years later emigrated to Western Australia, where he had been offered the post of the state’s director of football coaching. He made a great success of the role, and in 2008 was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for services to sport.

Tindall’s contracts with his football clubs had allowed him to play cricket rather than football where the seasons overlapped, and he was on Surrey’s books from 1956 to 1966.

During the Fifties, Surrey were County Champions for seven consecutive seasons, and the side included some of the great cricketers of the era: Peter May, Jim Laker, Tony Lock, Alec and Eric Bedser.

Tindall — a middle-order batsman and off-break bowler — was awarded his county cap in 1962. In first-class matches for Surrey he scored 5,446 runs at an average of 24.86; he hit two centuries (with a highest score of 109 not out) and 28 fifties, and in 1963 recorded more than 1,000 runs for the season.

With the ball, he took 150 wickets at 32.38; his most successful season was 1962, after the retirement of the off-spinners Laker and Eric Bedser, when he took 66 wickets at 23.92 apiece.

West Australia remained Tindall’s home for the rest of his life. He is survived by his wife, Anne, and by their son and two daughters.